Have Faith in Religious Education

Catholic schools are closing their doors all across America, leaving future generations with nowhere to turn for the high-quality academics and values-based education so many families are seeking. The number of students attending Catholic schools in the U.S. fell from about 5.2 million in 1965 to around two million in 2008. But Pioneer Institute believes these and other non-public academic options are worth preserving, and there is reason to believe we can help reinvigorate them.

Our research shows Catholic school students in Boston:

Outperform national averages on the Stanford 10

Outperform the Boston Public Schools and Massachusetts (the nation’s leader) on the SAT exams

Report high rates of graduation and college attendance

For over a decade, Pioneer has raised our voice in support of these excellent academic options, and tools such as tax credit scholarships that would enable more families to attend. Pioneer has held public forums, published research on the benefits of Catholic education, on programs that would help increase access for more low-income families, successful models such as Cristo Rey and vocational-tech programs, raising awareness of the dangers of adopting Common Core, and of state government agencies’ practice of depriving religious school students of special needs services and access to school nurses. The Institute has also convened key stakeholders, appeared in local and national press, filed amicus briefs, produced a documentary film on the impact of legal barriers to school choice, and much more.

Watch: Catholic & Religious Education

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Big Sacrifices, Big Dreams:Ending America’s Bigoted Education Laws

In Massachusetts, the Know-Nothing amendments prevent more than 100,000 urban families with children in chronically underperforming school districts from receiving scholarship vouchers that would allow them access to additional educational alternatives. These legal barriers, also known as Blaine amendments, restrict government funding from flowing to religiously affiliated organizations in nearly 40 states and are a violation of the first and fourteenth amendments.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case this year, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, that could end these amendments. In 2018, Pioneer produced a 30-minute documentary on the impact of the Blaine amendments on families in Massachusetts, Georgia, and Michigan.

“She’s a good girl. She helps me a lot. She has big, big dreams. I don’t have the money, but she has big dreams. I hope she’s going to get everything, but she works so hard. She works so hard in school.”

Arlete do CarmoFramingham, MA

“Our family is needing to make some really big sacrifices because we believe this is important, and so, we’re basically going to do whatever it takes… Sometimes we look at each other and go ‘I don’t know if I can do it again another month…’”

Nate and Tennille CostonMidland, MI

“A lot of the families have to sacrifice and work multiple jobs… And just scraping together enough money to just make tuition, just the basics.”

Sarah MorinFall River, MA

“It is discriminatory, that parents who want to choose an alternative to public school for their children, would not in any way receive any compensation for that, whether it be tax credit, whether it be a voucher…”

Father Jay MelloPastor, St. Michael and St. Joseph Parishes

History of Blaine Amendments

Nativist sentiments were, like slavery, a part of the original fabric of the United States.

In the 1840s, nativist movement leaders formed official political parties and local chapters of the national Native American Party (later the American Party), although they continued to be commonly known as the Know-Nothing Party. Politicians sought to insert provisions into state constitutions against Catholics who refused to renounce the pope. The Know-Nothing movement brought bigotry and hatred to a new level of violence and organization.

The party’s legacy endured in the post-Civil War era, with laws and constitutional amendments it supported, still today severely limiting parents’ educational choices. A federal constitutional amendment was proposed by Speaker of the House James Blaine prohibiting money raised by taxation in any State to be under the control of any religious sect; nor shall any money so raised or lands so devoted be divided between religious sects or denominations. These were then named the Blaine Amendments of 1875.

in recent decades, often in response to challenges to school choice programs, the U.S. Supreme Court has demonstrated great interest in examining the issues of educational alternatives and attempts limit parental options. Massachusetts plays a key role in this debate. The Bay State was a key center of the Know-Nothing movement and has the oldest version of Anti-Aid Amendments in the nation, as well as a second such amendment approved in 1917. Two-fifths of Massachusetts residents are Catholic, and its Catholic schools outperform the state’s public schools, which are the best in the nation.

Make Your Voice Heard Now!

Learn more about how you can help end bigoted education laws in your state!